Sir Rodney Walker is appointed chairman of London Marathon Charitable Trust.

Charlie Bullough

Wakefield businessman Sir Rodney Walker has been appointed as chairman of the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

The trust owns London Marathon Events Limited - the company which organises mass participation sporting events.

In the 34 years since the first London Marathon was held in 1981, the Trust has distributed over £56 million to projects in London and beyond.

Sir Rodney: “It is an honour to be asked to chair the trust and I was delighted to accept.”

Sir Rodney, who was awarded The Yorkshire Man of the year in 2008 and Business Person of the Year at the 2014 Wakefield Business Awards, is the only person to have received First Wakefield’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It was in recognition for his services to the city and in raising an estimated £40m for charities and good causes.

His CV reads like a veritable who’s who of sporting organisations.

Sir Rodney is a former chair of the Rugby Football League, World Snooker, Brands Hatch & Donington Park.

This is not his first recognition in the world of sport however. Sir Rodney was knighted in 1996 and awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor for his services to sport.

More recently Sir Rodney was invited by the Government to chair the company charged with organising and overseeing the allocation of £10m of Government funds to support the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart, stage 3.